National + Global + Industrial | July 17, 2023

Power Supply Constraints Inhibit Global Data Center Growth

A worldwide shortage of available power is inhibiting growth of the global data center market, CBRE says in a new report. Sourcing enough power is a top priority of data center operators across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

Despite strong near-term market fundamentals, power supply constraints could limit or delay development in markets like Frankfurt, Tokyo and Silicon Valley. However, such constraints are fueling demand in emerging markets where power is available, such as Charlotte, NC, Johannesburg and Mumbai.

“Strong demand for data centers is driving the increase in supply,” said Pat Lynch, executive managing director for CBRE’s Data Centers Solution. “Still, we’re seeing low vacancy rates across the globe, particularly in North America, where vacancy is the lowest in a decade. We anticipate constraints on capacity and development to ease in the next few years, though it won’t entirely go away as an issue for the industry.”

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CBRE's Lynch

About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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